I Am A Malay

My fav reading nowadays is "A doctor In The House - The memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad". He is my fav idol. He is a visionary and he dreamt and achieved his dreams. He inspired me to become the best out of myself. Become extraordinary than average people. Try to achieved for some it is impossible.

This is a few quotes and lines taken from the book. It is the third chapter of the book and the title is "I Am A Malay".

"I am well aware that my ethnic origin has been the subject of much animated debate. Some claim that my father was Malayalee and was influent in both Tamil and Malayalam. Some have even written that he was a Hindu who converted to Islam to marry my mother. I admit that some Indian, or more accurately South Asian blood flows in my veins, but from which part of the Indian subcontinent my ancestors came I do not know. Malays in the past did not keep track of their lineage, although most of those with Arab blood can trace their root to Yemen and know which family they belong to.

Some people will see his chapter as racist at worst, and narcissistic at best - it is intended to be neither. I am Malay and am proud of it.

Multiracial democracies have nuances that homogenous countries cannot imagine. Racial tags often have a derogatory taint. In Malaysia, Chinese are popularly seen as money-grabbing and Indians as violent drunks. Malays, the majority race, are said to be lazy and lacking in intellectual capacity. Stereotypes will always persist, even in the most progressive and educated societies. But a good leader does not let them go unchallenged. Every time when, as Prime Minister, I made a mistake or an unpopular decision, people were ready with their "dim-witted Malay" slurs. But when I made a good decisions, those that brought progress and prosperity to the nation, it was always because I had Indian blood. I wanted to prove otherwise: that Malays were more than capable of thinking, progressing and leading.

Nearly every Malay in Malaysia has some non-Malay blood. But the fact doesn't make them any less Malay. We seem the categories ourselves in such puzzling ways that managing our multiracial country is extremely difficult. Racial categoriations make a great deal of difference to the acceptance or rejection of one's leadership and decisions.

My family and I have always fulfilled those formal criteria. But I am a Malay not just on paper. I am also a Malay in sentiment and in spirit. I identify completely wth the Malays and their problems, their past and their present, their achievements and failures. I do not do so sentimentally and uncritically, but thoroughly and thoughtfully. On many occasions I have criticised the Malay for taking the easy way out, for their general lack of desire for self-improvement and for their tendency to ben dependent on others. I have confronted the comforting illusions they retreat into when they become afraid of challenges that they face as individuals and as a people. I have always had my reasons for these frequent expressions of disappoinment. They were often outbursts due to my frustration, but they were also strategic. They were intended to provoke the Malay to improve himself, to stnd poised, confident and able, instead of leaning on crutches like affirmative action.

I believe firmly in leadership by example. In my own code of behaviour, I make a point of refusing typical Malay stereotypes by practising the values which I want th Malay to adopt. For instance, I have often been asked where I get my energy from. The general perception is that Malays are incapable of working hard. To correct this notion, throughout my 22 years as Prime Minister, I never took the full leave I was entitled to. Returning from visits abroad. I would go to office the same day. My working hours are longer than those of most government employees and Ministers. I did not play golf, I sldom watched such games as football or badminton and I rode horses only once a week. What drove me was the simple fact that I enjoyed working. When I was Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister, what I looked forward to most was seeing the results of my ideas policies and directives taking shape: to see what I had a glimpsedi in my imagination become reality.

When I saw how the trainees, who went through programmes facilitated by the Look East policy were sought after, I was gratified. I saw that this new generation of Malaysians did not display the usual diffidence. I saw how highly regarded they become outside Malaysia. I had to work hard myself in order to impress on everyone, the Malays in particular, the virtue of hard work. They had to be made to understand that this was the only way to succeed in life and develop the country. I am always in a hurry to see the results. This is uncommon for a Malay. If only our whole community would do this, success would be the natural outcome. And the harder you work, the earlier you get the results. There are many reasons, of course, for my instense drive. After closely studying the history of Malaya recognise how greatly the industriouness of the Chinese and Indians has contributed to Malaysia's remarkable success.

In commerce Malay acumen and work ethics leave much to be desired. They do not seem to realise that prompt repayment of loans and creditworthiness are prerequisites for commercial growth. Many borrow money for business purposes but use only half the loan for genuine business activites, effectively doubling their interest rate. With half the capital, it is difficult to make enough money to repay the whole loan. When this happens, they have no choice but to cut corners and deliver inferior work. They then lose the trust of their customers, banks and subcontractrs. They get blacklisted and all other Malays get tarred with the same brush.

A petrol service operator I once met invested his cash earnings in another business. The business failed and he was unable to pay the stock of the oil he had obtained on credit. After he failed tp pay several times, the supplier started demanding cash payments. The operator had no more cash and could not raise another loan from his bank. H finally list his service station business. I got to know about this because he appealed to me directly to instruct the oil company to let him continue operating the station. When I made enquiries about his case, I found that heh had not been paying for his petrol supply. It appears he was not the only one who did this. Because of a few bad eggs, Malay service station operators must now pay upfront in cash for their supply of oil. These are market forces, pure and simple.

A reputation of small Malay contractors has been blighted in the same way by incidents involving the construction of school computer laboratories. Instead of building the laboratories themselves, the contractors sold their contracts to other contractors, who then sold the same contracts for upfront money to yet another contractors. This process devolved until the profit margin became negative and the contrct was no longer viable. The final contractor then tried to construct the laboratories uing inferior materials and, in some instances, by not paying suppliers and subcontractors. The result was either failure to complete the projects or the collapse of the building before it was even used. This problem was repeatedly highlighted in the Press and Malay contractors got a blanket reputation for being unethical and irresponsible. The reason why these things happen can be explained in one word: greed. It is desire to get rich quickly without doing anything to deserve the wealth.

Unless he Malays work hard, they may wake up one day to find that this country is no longer theirs, that they are dispossessed in their own land. This scenario is not farfetched Is Malays become corrupt they may be financially persuaded to elect governments that may be prepared to sell their bithright to the highest bidders, who are unlikely to be Malays.

I am making disparaging remarkes and offering critical analyses about the Malays, I wanted not to insult them but to incourage a habit of self-scrutiny, which I hoped might lead to self-improvement. I am proud, but it is a pride tinged with sadness. We can do better. The Malays can do better. I know they can. In retirement, apart from appealing to them, I can do very little. I pray, but I know that Allah will not change the fate of any people unless they seriously attempt to chane it themselves.

I worry about the Malays and fear for their future, but that does not change the fact that I am proud to be a Malay. I would not want to be anything else. In earlier times a Roman, wherever he went in the world, was always proud to declare himself a Roman citizen. For my part I wanted to be able to go anywhere in the world and say with equal pride, "I am a Malay"."

during Mahathir talk in UPM. I just want to hear my idol direct speech.